Systems and methods for ontological and meta-ontological data modeling

ABSTRACT

According to one aspect of the disclosed subject matter, a method is provided for the association of conceptual and relational information. First, the structure information necessary to define types, relationships, attributes, and handlers is established. Then, the context in which the correlation of conceptual and relational information is to occur is established. Existing and/or new ontologies to be considered during the act of correlation are selected. Relational and conceptual information is recorded and source and/or content data is displayed.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent ApplicationSer. No. 61/525,597 filed Aug. 19, 2012, which is hereby incorporated byreference in its entirety.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates in general to the fields of ontologicalengineering.

BACKGROUND

A general purpose of ontological engineering is to define models ofknowledge designed to improve the ability to collect and disseminateknowledge. Over years of practice, many meta-languages have been definedto assist in the development of knowledge models.

Differences between meta-languages are primarily based on their purposeand use. Meta-languages—such as DAML+OIL, OWL, and RDF—are markupschemes designed to encode knowledge in a standardized fashion. Languagestructure may also be used to differentiate various meta-languages.Languages whose structure is frame-based include FLogic, OKBC, and KM.Further, descriptive logic-based languages include KL-ONE, RACER, andGellish, and languages based on first-order logic include CycL and KIF.

However, each of these meta-languages have unique benefits and drawbackswhich must be analyzed prior deciding which meta-language is best toencode a particular collection of knowledge. If it is desired tore-encode the same collection of knowledge into another meta-language, asignificant amount of rework is often necessary. Additionally,integration of knowledge encoded in different meta-languages may be verydifficult, often requiring re-encoding of the disparate sources into anew, common representation.

SUMMARY

Therefore, a need has arisen for data modeling systems and methods whichallows a user to encode and re-encode knowledge into variousmeta-languages is provided. In accordance with the disclosed subjectmatter, data modeling systems and methods for conceptual and relationalcorrelation through the management of ontological and meta-ontologicalinformation are provided which substantially eliminates or reducesdisadvantages with known methods and systems.

According to one aspect of the disclosed subject matter, a method isprovided for the association of conceptual and relational information.First, the structure information necessary to define types,relationships, attributes, and handlers is established. Then, thecontext in which the correlation of conceptual and relationalinformation is to occur is established. Existing and/or new ontologiesto be considered during the act of correlation are selected. Andrelational and conceptual information is recorded and source and/orcontent data is displayed.

These and other aspects of the disclosed subject matter, as well asadditional novel features, will be apparent from the descriptionprovided herein. The intent of this summary is not to be a comprehensivedescription of the claimed subject matter, but rather to provide a shortoverview of some of the subject matter's functionality. Other systems,methods, features and advantages here provided will become apparent toone with skill in the art upon examination of the following FIGUREs anddetailed description. It is intended that all such additional systems,methods, features and advantages that are included within thisdescription, be within the scope of any claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The features, nature, and advantages of the disclosed subject matter maybecome more apparent from the detailed description set forth below whentaken in conjunction with the drawings in which like reference numeralsindicate like features and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a high-level overview of an embodiment of a system data modelin accordance with the disclosed subject matter;

FIG. 2 is a detail data model of the context elements of an embodimentof a system data model in accordance with the disclosed subject matter;

FIG. 3 is a detail data model of the ontology elements of an embodimentof a system data model in accordance with the disclosed subject matter;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of a method for conceptual and relationalcorrelation in accordance with the disclosed subject matter;

FIG. 5 is a screen shot of showing an example menu interface inaccordance with the disclosed subject matter;

FIG. 6 is a screen shot of showing a manage metadata system function ofthe disclosed subject matter;

FIG. 7 is a screen shot of showing an establish context system functionof the disclosed subject matter;

FIG. 8 is a screen shot of showing a select ontologies system functionaspect of the disclosed subject matter;

FIG. 9 is a screen shot of showing a create concepts system functionaspect of the disclosed subject matter;

FIG. 10 is a screen shot of showing a record associations systemfunction aspect of the disclosed subject matter;

FIG. 11 is a screen shot of showing a navigation association systemfunction aspect of the disclosed subject matter; and

FIG. 12 is a screen shot of showing a view content system functionaspect of the disclosed subject matter.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, but ismade for the purpose of describing the general principles of the presentdisclosure. The scope of the present disclosure should be determinedwith reference to the claims. Exemplary embodiments of the presentdisclosure are illustrated in the drawings, like numbers being used torefer to like and corresponding parts of the various drawings.

And although the present disclosure is described with reference tospecific embodiments, such as a computer system, process, and computerreadable medium for conceptual and relational correlation of concepts,one skilled in the art could apply the principles discussed herein toother materials, technical areas, and/or embodiments without undueexperimentation. Further, while described with reference to worldwideweb/internet domain ontologies, the disclosed subject matter isapplicable to any data source.

To overcome the deficiencies of known schemes of knowledgerepresentation, this disclosure provides a system, method, and mediumthat represents knowledge from all meta-languages in a consistentformat. The method and system may utilize knowledge from the fields ofcognitive science and psycholinguistics in the creation of a data modelreflective of a model used by humans to represent knowledge. While ableto preserve all the information of the original representation(s), thedisclosed model of knowledge is specifically designed to substantiallyimprove the ability to correlate concepts and their relationships acrossall knowledge encoded within it. In operation, a user may apply themethods and systems described herein to correlate, store, and manageconceptual and relational information.

The disclosed subject matter provides for a computer-implemented datamodeling system and process, which may use a common processor, database,and user-interface, and/or be implemented by a tangible computerreadable medium to improve the ability to correlate conceptual andrelational information through the management of ontological andmeta-ontological information.

The disclosed system and method may comprise the steps of and/or providefunctionality for: 1) establishing the structure information necessaryto define types, relationships, attributes, and handlers necessary toperform the remaining steps in the contemplated method, 2) establishingthe context in which the correlation of conceptual and relationalinformation is to occur, 3) selecting existing and/or new ontologies tobe considered during the act of correlation, 4) recording of relationaland conceptual information, including appropriate annotation, 5)navigation of relationships within and between selected ontologies, and6) displaying source and/or content data.

One or more of the above methods and/or processes may be implemented ona computer. The computer may include a processor receiving instructionsfrom a storage device including a hard drive or other type of tangiblecomputer readable medium. The computer could also receive input from ahuman interface display and corresponding device such as a keyboard,mouse, tablet, etc. or from some other communications medium such asWi-Fi, the Internet, local area network, wide area network, etc. Theprocessor, generally in conjunction with some type of computer readablemedium may run additional applications to assist implementing themethods and/or processes disclosed herein such as an operating system,database programs, document storage systems, or other applications wellknown in the art. The computer could further export information or datavia the before mentioned communications medium, a display, etc.Furthermore, on or more of the above methods and processes could furtherbe implemented on one or more computers, computer readable mediums, etc.

An ontology is a structured collection of realized information. Thedisclosed subject matter provides for the collection of the structure ofinformation through the various metadata types which are then realizedfor a particular instance of the ontology. Realization is the act ofassociating data from a particular source to a particular ontology type(herein “OntologyType”). An example of an ontology is the BiologicalClassification System, (BCS), in which life is divided into ahierarchical structure which includes concept types (herein“ConceptType”) such as Genus and Species. Structurally, thisOntologyType is referred to as a taxonomy. The structure informationmight include the semantic relationship (herein “SemanticRelationship”)“contains”, with relationship roles (herein “RelationshipRoles”) such as“parent” and “child”. While this structure may be used to capture theinformation of the BCS, it may also be used to capture any informationsimilarly structured. The ability to reuse the structure for multipledata sources is a key characteristic of the disclosed subject matterthat provides improved correlation.

A concept is a realization of a ConceptType based on a particularinformation source. Using the BCS example above, the ConceptType“Species” might be realized (for humans) by the concept “Sapiens”, whichwould have a realized relationship (herein “RealizedRelationship”)“child” to the Concept “Homo” of ConceptType “Genus”.

The context joins an ontology to its information source. In effect, acontext establishes the connection between the structured representationof information contained in the ontology and the structuredrepresentation of information contained in the source document. Notethat a single source might exist in multiple contexts, as multipleOntologyTypes might be used to transform the source information indifferent ways to meet different objectives.

An ontology realizes an OntologyType based upon a source. TheOntologyType defines the structure of the information, and contains allthe metadata types. SemanticRelationships define how ConceptTypes areconnected. When an ontology is realized, a RealizedRelationship iscreated as part of the ontology and associated to a concept of theappropriate ConceptType. In the BCS example, the ontology would be“BCS”, the RealizedRelationshp would be of type “contains”, and the twoconcepts “Homo” of type “Genus” and “Sapiens” of type “Species” would beassociated to the RealizedRelationship, with RelationshipRoles of“parent” and “child” respectively.

As used herein, the term metadata or metadata type references types ofinformation and relationships collected—for example shown as 102 in thescreen shot of FIG. 5. Managing metadata depends on the Metadata Typebeing entered, such as ConceptType, OntologyType, SemanticRelationship,RelationshipRole, Attribute, ContentHandler, ContextType, SourceType,and SourceHandler.

FIGS. 1-3 are data model diagrams showing the relationship and flow ofdata in accordance with the disclosed subject matter. FIG. 4 is a highlevel flow diagram showing the major processing steps for correlatingconceptual and relational information. FIGS. 5-12 are screen shots of agraphical user interface allowing a user to manage ontological andmeta-ontoligical information.

FIG. 1 is an exemplary high-level overview of the system's data model.FIG. 2 is an exemplary detail data model of the context elements of thesystem's data model. FIG. 3 is an exemplary detail data model of theontology elements of the system's data model.

Table 1 below shows the data fields from the data models of FIGS. 1-3and corresponding reference numerals in the screen shots of FIGS.4-12—each data field populated during execution of their correspondingfunction. Note that values from FIG. 6 are omitted and are provided inthe Metadata Type examples in Table 2.

TABLE 1 Reference # Table::Column 402 Context::name 408 Context::label410 Content::name 416 Content::data 418 Source::name 424 Source:uri 426SourceType::name 432 Context::name 602 Ontology::name 608Ontology::label 610 OntologyType::name 612 ContentHandler::name 616Ontology::name 618 OntologyType::name 704 ConceptType::name 708Concept::name 710 Concept::label 712 Concept::description 714Attribute::name 716 ConceptAttribute::value 802 ConceptType::name 804ConceptType::name 806 Concept::name 808 Concept::name 810 Ontology::name812 SemanticRelationship::name 816 RelationshipRole::name 818RelationshipRole::name 820 Attribute::name 822RealizedRelationship_Attribute::value 1002 Ontology::name 1004ConceptType::name 1006 Concept::name 1008 Concept::label 1010ConceptType::name 1012 Concept::description 1016 Ontology::name 1018OntologyType::name 1020 SemanticRelationship::name 1024SemanticRelationship::name 1026SUM(RealizedRelationship_Attribute::value) 1028 Concept::name 1030Ontology::name 1032 SemanticRelationship::name 1202 Source::name 1204Content::data 1206 SourceType::name

It is to be understood that the disclosed subject matter is not limitedin application to the details of construction and to the arrangements ofthe components set forth in the following descriptions or drawings. Thedisclosed subject matter is capable of other embodiments and of beingpracticed and carried out in various ways. For example, in at least onespecific envisioned alternative implementation it is contemplated thatthe entry of information into the system, as indicated by the steps 12,14, 17 and 18 in FIG. 4 herein, might be performed programmatically in aprocess which we shall refer to herein as “ingestion” in order todistinguish such a realization from the one contemplated in the detaileddescription below, which we refer to as “entry”.

Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to FIG. 4, a highlevel flow diagram is shown that provides an overview of the methodaccording to the disclosed subject matter. In the first step, step 12,information necessary to define types, relationships, attributes, andhandlers necessary to perform the remaining steps in the contemplatedmethod is collected. However, it is envisioned that in at least someembodiments that the various types of such information (an exemplarylist of which can be found in the first column of Table 2) will beselectable from data previously entered or ingested into the system, inorder to maximize the correlation of system data through reuse ofexisting values.

In the second step, step 14, a context is established in whichcorrelation of conceptual and relational information is to occur. Apurpose of this step is to limit the amount of information a user isprovided to only that information associated with a particular context.

In the third step, step 16, ontologies are selected from existing data,or new ones are established, to be considered during work related to thecurrent context as established during the activity of the second step,step 14. This activity of creating or associating ontologies to thecurrent context is indicated by step 16. It is important to note thatthe activities of steps 14 and 16 are intended to facilitate use of thesystem by users, and not in any other way to constrain the functionalityof the disclosed system. In the fourth step, step 17, the user maycreate new concepts. This includes the ability to assign the values ofattributes to the concept based on its type. In the fifth step, step 18,the user may create new relationships between concepts. This includesthe ability to associate values, called attributes, to the relationship.

In the sixth step, step 20, the user may navigate relationships betweenconcepts. In an alternative embodiment, this may include the ability torestrict viewable relationships. In the seventh step, step 22, contentassociated with a particular source is displayed to the user.

It should be noted that in at least some envisioned realizations of thedisclosed subject matter, steps 17, 18, 19, and 20 are not required tobe performed in any particular order. Rather, they represent steps thatmay be performed as required by any particular utilization of thedisclosed process.

In at least one specific envisioned alternative implementation of thedisclosed subject matter, steps 17, 18, 19, and 20 may be managed viathe implementation of a workflow engine. The workflow engine maypotentially control the order in which these steps are performed, aswell as pre-populating, restricting, and otherwise controlling theinformation flow during these steps, dependent upon the state of theworkflow engine and particularly the context.

FIG. 5 is a screen shot 100 of a system implementing the various processsteps shown in the flow of FIG. 4. When first entered, only buttons 102and 104 are enabled for a user. When a current context is establishedvia the establish context 14 process, the buttons 106, 107, 108, 110,and 112 may be enabled for a user.

FIG. 6 is a screen shot 102 of a system implementing the manage metadata12 process of FIG. 4. When the screen is selected via the ManageMetadata button 102 in FIG. 5, the system populates the metadata typedrop-down 202 with a set of values, an exemplary collection of which isshown in the first column of data in Table 2, Metadata Type, which isreproduced below for descriptive purposes and should not be construed ina limiting sense.

TABLE 2 Opt 2 Metadata Type Opt 1 (Block Relation Manage Relation (TableName) (block 208) 210) (Block 212) (Block 218) ConceptType DescriptionDISABLED DISABLED OntologyType OntologyType Description DISABLEDDISABLED ConceptType, SemanticRelationship SemanticRelationship DISABLEDDISABLED DISABLED OntologyType RelationshipRole Description OrderSemanticRelationship DISABLED Attribute DISABLED DISABLED ConceptTypeDISABLED ContentHandler ManagingClass DISABLED DISABLED DISABLEDContextType DISABLED DISABLED DISABLED DISABLED SourceType DescriptionDISABLED DISABLED DISABLED SourceHandler ManagingClass DISABLED DISABLEDSourceType

Using the drop-down menu 202, the user selects a type of metadata tomanage. Based upon the type selected, the fields represented by blocks208 and 210 are labeled as indicted by the values shown in the row inTable 2 corresponding to the metadata type selected, or disabled if thevalue indicated in Table 2 is “DISABLED”. In addition, drop-down 212 maypopulated with any existing values of the type shown in the column ofTable 2 that correspond to block 212, or the field is disabled if thecorresponding value is shown in Table 2 to be “DISABLED”.

The user may then enter information into blocks 204, 206, 208, and 210,and select a value from block 212 (entry and selection being dependenton the blocks being available, and not disabled as described above). Atany point in this entry, the user may click the button labeled “Find”,shown as block 214 in FIG. 6. If “Find” is selected, the system uses anyinformation entered in blocks 204, 206, 208, and 210 to determine ifthere is one and only one matching record of the metadata type indicatedby block 202. If there is exactly one match, the system populates allremaining unpopulated blocks 204, 206, 208, and 210 with the data fromthe corresponding record. The user may then update these values. In atleast one of the envisioned realizations of the disclosed subjectmatter, the function of block 214 may be such that as long as at leastone matching record of the indicated metadata type is found, a list ofall matching records will be provided and the user will be able toselect from the provided list which record to manage.

When the user selects the button 216 labeled “Save,” the system willeither update the record found and selected by the user via button 214,if this action was previously performed since the last selection of ametadata type via drop-down 202, or will create a new record of theindicated metadata type in 202 if no such selection was performed. Therecord thus found or created is considered the managed metadata record.In either case, the drop-down 218 may be populated with all the valuesof the example metadata types shown in the Metadata Type column of Table2 corresponding to block 218, or disabled if the corresponding column ofTable 2 is “DISABLED.” Also, for each value placed in block 218, if thatvalue for that metadata type has previously, in any use of the system,been associated with the metadata record either found via block 214 orsaved via block 216, that entry in the drop-down is highlighted toindicate the existing relationship.

When the user selects a value from the drop-down 218, clicking button220 will toggle whether there is a relationship between the managedmetadata record and the record selected from the drop-down 218. If therewas previously a relationship record, that relationship will be deleted;if there was not previously a recorded relationship, then one iscreated.

FIG. 7 is a screen shot 104 of a system implementing the establishcontext 14 process of FIG. 4. When the screen is selected via theEstablish Context button 104 in FIG. 5, the system populates drop-down402 with a list of all existing contexts within the system. All buttonsare enabled with the exception of the save button 428, which isdisabled. Drop down 402 has the currently selected context, if any,selected as its default. In one realization of the disclose subjectmatter, if there is no currently selected context the default contextwill be the last context used by the current user. Otherwise, thedefault selected context will be the first entry in the drop down. Textfield 432 is populated with the name of the currently selected context.

Drop down 410 is populated with a list of all content records in thesystem. Those content elements which have been previously associatedwith the selected context may be highlighted. The first content elementassociated with the selected context is the selected default. If thecontext has no previously associated content, then the first contententry in the drop down will be the default. Text field 416 is populatedwith data of the selected content 410.

Drop down 418 is populated with a list of all source records stored in adatabase in the system. Those source elements which have been previouslyassociated with the selected content are highlighted. The first sourceelement associated with the selected content is the selected default. Ifthe content has no previously associated sources, then the first sourceentry in the drop down will be the default. Text field 424 is populatedwith the uniform resource identifier (URI) of the selected source. Dropdown 426 is converted to a text field, and contains the value of thesource type associated with the selected sources 416.

When the user clicks the select as current button 406, the system setsthe context 402 as the current context, and populates text field 432with the label of the context 402.

When the user clicks the new context button 404, the system disablesbuttons 406, 412, 414, 420, and 422, un-highlights all values in thecontent drop down 410, and converts the drop down 402 into a text field.The user enters a context name 402, and a label 408. When text fields402 and 408 contain values, the system enables the save button 428. Ifthe user clicks the save button 428, the system creates a new contextrecord with the values in 402 and 408, and restarts the establishcontext 14 process. If the user clicks the cancel button 430, the systemdiscards any entered information from text fields 402 and 408, andrestarts the establish context 14 process.

When the user clicks the new content button 412, the system disablesbuttons 404, 406, 414, 420, and 422, un-highlights all values in thesource drop down 416, and converts the drop down 410 into a text field.The user enters a content name 410, and data 416. In one alternativeimplementation, the user will be provided the opportunity to choose toload data from an external source which will then populate the contentof data 416 with the content of the user selected source. When textfields 410 and 416 contain values, the system enables the save button428. If the user clicks the save button 428, the system creates a newcontent record with the values in 402 and 408, and restarts theestablish context 14 process. If the user clicks the cancel button 430,the system discards any entered information from text fields 410 and416, and restarts the establish context 14 process.

When the user clicks the new source button 420, the system disablesbuttons 404, 406, 412, 414, 420, and 422, converts the drop down 418into a text field, and populates the drop down 426 with a list of allsource types. The default source type selected is the first one inorder. The user enters a source name 418, a URI 424, and selects asource type 426. When text fields 418 and 424 contain values, (and avalue for type 426 is selected, which occurs by default), the systemenables the save button 428. If the user clicks the save button 428, thesystem creates a new source record with the values in 418 and 424,associates the new source record to the type selected in 426, andrestarts the establish context 14 process. If the user clicks the cancelbutton 430, the system discards any entered information from text fields418 and 424, and restarts the establish context 14 process.

When the user clicks the associate content button 414, the associationof the selected content 410 with the selected context 402 is toggled. Ifthe context 402 and content 410 were previously associated, theassociation is removed, and the highlighting of content 410 is removed.If the context 402 and content 410 were not previously associated, anassociation is created, and the content 410 is highlighted.

When the user clicks the associate source button 422, the association ofthe selected source 418 with the selected content 410 is toggled. If thecontent 410 and source 418 were previously associated, the associationis removed, and the highlighting of source 418 is removed. If thecontent 410 and source 418 were not previously associated, anassociation is created, and the source 418 is highlighted.

If the user clicks the cancel button 430 outside of the context ofhaving clicked the new context 404, the new content button 412, or thenew source button 420 button as previously described, the system willreturn the user to the main screen 100.

Importantly, the context may be content record in stored in a database,a webpage identified by for example a URL, or a document obtainedthrough a document retrieval system—thus any record digitally manageablemay be used as context.

FIG. 8 is a screen shot 106 of a system implementing the selectontologies 16 process shown in FIG. 5. When the screen is selected viathe Select Ontologies button 106 in FIG. 5, the system populates theontology name drop down 602 with a list of all ontologies available inthe system, and disables the button 622. The default selected ontology602 is either the first ontology associated in the current context, orthe first ontology in order if no ontologies are currently selected forthe current context. For the selected ontology 602, the text field 608is populated with the label, the drop down 610 is converted to a textfield and populated with the ontology type name, and the drop down 612is converted to a text field and populated with the handler name. Inaddition, for each ontology associated with the current context, thelist box field 616 is populated with the label of the associatedontology, and the corresponding list box field 618 is populated withassociated ontology's ontology type.

When the user selects an ontology 602, the system populates the textfield 608 is with the label, the drop down 610 is converted to a textfield and populated with the ontology type name, and the drop down 612is converted to a text field and populated with the handler name.

When the user clicks the toggle association button 606, the systemtoggles the state of association between the current context and theselected ontology 602. If the ontology was previously associated withthe context, the corresponding entry is removed from the list box 616and 618, and the association record is removed. If the ontology was notpreviously associated with the context, the association record iscreated, and an entry is added to the list box 616 and 618, containingthe label and ontology type of the selected ontology 602.

When the user clicks the new ontology button 604, the system convertsthe drop down 602 into an editable text field, populates the drop down610 with a list of all ontology types in the system, (making the defaultthe first in the list), and populates the drop down 612 with a list ofall handlers available in the system, (also making the default the firstin the list), enables the button 622, and disables the button 620. Whenboth the ontology name 602 and label 608 are populated, the systemenables the button 620.

If the user clicks the button 620, the system creates a new ontologycontaining the values from text fields 602 and 608, as well as theassociating the created ontology to the selected type 610 and handler612. The system then restarts the select ontologies 106 screen, and setthe default ontology to the one just created.

If the user clicks the button 622, the system disposes of any enteredinformation, and restarts the select ontologies 106 screen.

If, outside the context of the new ontology 604 function, the userclicks the save button 620, the system returns to the main function 100.

FIG. 9 is a screen shot 107 of a system implementing the create concepts17 process of FIG. 5. When the screen is initiated, as for example viathe Create Concepts button 107 in FIG. 5, the system populates the dropdown 704 with a list of all available concept types. The default valueof 704 is the first entry in order. The save button 718 is disabled, andthe cancel button 720 and new concept button 706 is enabled.

The user selects a value from the drop down 704. When the user clicksthe new concept button 706, the values of fields 708, 710, and 712 arecleared, the new concept button 706 is disabled, and the save button 718is enabled. For each attribute associated with the selected concept fromthe drop down 704, the system places the attribute's label in a row oflist box attribute column 714. The associated values 716 are blanked.

The user populates the text fields 708, 710, and 712 with the name,label and description of the new concept, respectively. The user alsopopulates the value column of the list box 716 with the value of theassociated attribute for the concept.

If the user clicks the save button 718, the system creates a new conceptwith the provided information, and associates it to the attributes withthe values provided. The system then restarts the create concepts 17process. If the user clicks the cancel button 720, the system discardsany information entered, and restarts the create concepts 17 process.

FIG. 10 is a screen shot 108 of a system implementing the recordassociations 18 process of FIG. 5. When the screen is initiated, as forexample via the record associations button 108 in FIG. 5, the systempopulates the type drop downs 802 and 804 with a list of all concepttypes in the system, and the drop down 810 with a list of all ontologiesin the system. The buttons 814 and 824 are disabled.

When the user selects a concept type from drop downs 802 and 804, thesystem populates the correlating concept drop down below the selectedtype 806 and 808 with a list of all concepts of the type selected. Theuser then selects a concept from each of the drop downs 806 and 808. Inone alternative implementation of the disclosed subject matter, the usermay search for concepts within the selected types, using for exampleregular expressions, and to afterward select the concept 806 and 808from the matching concepts.

When the user selects an ontology from drop down 810, the systempopulates the relationship drop down 812 with a list of all semanticrelationships associated with the selected ontology. When the userselects a relationship from the drop down 812, the system populates thedrop downs 816 and 818 with the relationship roles associated with theselected relationship 812.

If the selected concepts 806 and 808 are currently associated to theselected ontology and relationship 810 and 812, the system selects andhighlights the associated roles of the concepts 816 and 818 for theexisting relationship, and populates the rows of the list box 820 and822 with the attributes and values of the existing relationship. If theselected concepts 806 and 808 are not currently associated to theselected ontology and relationship 810 and 812, the system selects thefirst role entry in drop downs 816 and 818, and populates the list boxattribute column 820 with a list of all attributes associated to theselected semantic relationship 812. Regardless of whether the selectedconcepts 806 and 808 are currently associated to the selected ontologyand relationship 810 and 812, the system also enables the toggleassociation button 814. In one alternative implementation of thedisclosed subject matter, the user may create relationships across morethan two concepts via an alternative interface. For example, the datamodel shown in FIG. 3 supports this capability.

When the user clicks the toggle association button 814, the systembehavior depends upon whether the selected concepts 806 and 808 arecurrently associated to the selected ontology and relationship 810 and812.

If the selected concepts 806 and 808 are currently associated to theselected ontology and relationship 810 and 812 when the user clicks thetoggle association button 814, the system removes the association, anddeletes the values of any attributes associated with the realizedrelationship. The system then restarts the record associations 18process.

If the selected concepts 806 and 808 are not currently associated to theselected ontology and relationship 810 and 812 when the user clicks thetoggle association button 814, the system selects the first role in thedrop downs 816 and 818, populates the list box attribute column 820 witha list of all attributes associated with the selected relationship 812,and clears the associated values of the list box value column 822.

The user selects a role from drop boxes 816 and 818, identifying therole that concepts 806 and 808 play in the relationship 812. The useralso enters values into the list box value column 822 for eachattribute. If the selected roles 816 and 818 are different, the systemenables the save button 824.

When the user clicks the save button 824, the system records therelationship 812 between the selected concepts 806 and 808, associatesthe associated roles 816 and 818 with their corresponding concepts 806and 808, and the attribute and values 820 and 822. When the user clicksthe cancel button 825, the system restarts the record associations 18process, discarding any entered information.

FIG. 11 is a screen shot 110 of a system implementing the navigateassociations 20 process of FIG. 5. When the screen is initiated, thesystem populates the ontology drop-down 1002 with the names of allontologies in the system. The toggle button 1014, and the return button1034, are enabled. All other fields are unpopulated, and drop-downs andinput fields are disabled.

When the user selects an entry from the ontology drop-down 1002, thesystem populates the concept type drop down 1004 with all the concepttypes associated with the selected ontology, and enables selection fromthe drop-down 1004.

When the user selects an entry from the concept type drop-down 1004, thesystem populates the concept name drop-down 1006 with the name value ofall the concepts associated with the ontology 1002 and concept type1004, and enables selection from the drop down 1006.

When the user selects an entry from the concept name drop-down 1006, thetext fields 1008, 1010, and 1012 are populated with the concept label,concept type, and description of the selected concept 1006 respectively.The concept 1006, within the system, is referred to as the “referenceconcept”, and is understood to be the concept with which all additionalconcepts in this process are said to have a relationship with. In oneenvisioned alternative implementation of the disclosed subject matter,the ability to select a specific reference concept will be performed bysearch methods involving the use of text fields for the entry of one ormore complete or partial values for ontology, concept type, and/orconcept name; and the selection from a list of matching options withinthe system.

When the user clicks the toggle button 1014, the system's behaviordepends on whether the ontology 1002 has been previously selected duringthis execution of the navigate associations 20 process. If the ontology1002 has not been previously selected, it is selected; the name of theontology 1002 is placed in the list box column 1016, and the name of theontology type associated with the ontology 1002 is placed in the listbox column 1018. If the ontology 1002 was previously selected, then therow of the list box containing the ontology name 1016 and associatedontology type 1018 is removed from the list box, and the ontology isdeselected.

When the user selects a row in the list box containing the ontology 1016and ontology type 1018, the system populates and enables therelationship drop-down 1020 with a list of all semantic relationshipsassociated with the selected ontology 1016.

When the user selects an entry from the relationship drop-down 1020, thetoggle button 1022 is enabled. When the user clicks the toggle button1022, the system response depends upon whether the selected relationship1020 has been previously selected during this execution of the navigateassociations 20 process. If the relationship 1020 has not beenpreviously selected, it is selected; the name of the relationship 1020is placed in the relationship list box column 1024; the system countsthe number of times the relationship 1020 has been realized in theontology 1016; the system places that count in the corresponding row ofthe count list box column 1026; and the system places the name of allconcepts that are part of that relationship into the concept column oflist box 1028, along with the name of the ontology 1002 into thecorresponding list box column 1020, and the relationship 1020 in thecorresponding list box column 1032. If the relationship 1020 waspreviously selected, the row of the list box containing thecorresponding relationship name 1024 and count 1026 is removed, and therelationship is deselected; in addition, the rows corresponding to therelationship 1020 found in the list box column 1032 are removed.

If the user selects a concept 1028, after confirmation the system setsthe concept name 1006 to the name of concept 1028, and sets thecorresponding fields 1008, 1010, and 1012 to the selected concept 1028label, type, and description respectively. All entries in list boxcolumns 1016 and 1018 are cleared and all ontologies deselected; allentries in the list box columns 1024 and 1026 are deselected, and allrelationships deselected; all columns of list box 1028, 1030, and 1032are deleted; and all entries in the relationship drop-box 1020 aredeleted, and the drop-box disabled. In effect, the selected concept 1028becomes the “reference concept”, and the system continues as previouslyindicated once a reference concept name 1006 is selected.

When the user clicks the return button 1034, the system returns to themain menu process 10.

FIG. 12 is a screen shot 112 of a system implementing the navigateassociations 22 process of FIG. 5. When the screen is initiated, thesource drop-down 1202 is populated with a list of all sources in thesystem.

When the user selects an entry from the source drop-down 1202, thesystem populates the text box 1204 with the data from the selectedsource. In addition, the source type text box 1206 is populated with thesource type associated with the selected source 1202. When the userclicks the return button 1208, the system returns to the main menuprocess 10.

The foregoing description of the exemplary embodiments is provided toenable any person skilled in the art to make or use the claimed subjectmatter. Various modifications to these embodiments will be readilyapparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles definedherein may be applied to other embodiments without the use of theinnovative faculty. Thus, the claimed subject matter is not intended tobe limited to the embodiments shown herein but is to be accorded thewidest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosedherein.

It is intended that all such additional systems, methods, features, andadvantages that are included within this description be within the scopeof the claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer processor implemented method for thecorrelation of conceptual and relational information, comprising:receiving structure information relating to metadata types from a user,by receiving a type of metadata to manage from the user, displaying atleast one field corresponding to the type of metadata to the user, andreceiving information from the user for entry into said at least onefield; receiving context information to establish context for thecorrelation of conceptual and relational information from said user, byreceiving a selection of an existing item of context information or anew item of context information from the user, receiving a selection ofan existing source or item of content or a new source or item of contentassociated with the context information from the user, and anassociation between at least one item of context information and atleast one source or item of content from the user; receiving ontologyinformation for the correlation of conceptual and relational informationfrom said user, by receiving a selection of an existing item of ontologyinformation or a new item of ontology information from the user and anassociation between at least one item of ontology information and atleast one item of context information; receiving concept information forthe correlation of conceptual and relational information from said user,by receiving a selection of a concept type and corresponding conceptfrom the user, displaying a plurality of attributes associable with theconcept, and receiving information from the user corresponding to theplurality of attributes; recording relationships between conceptual andrelational information, by receiving a selection of a concept from theuser, receiving a selection of an ontology information from the user,displaying attributes associated with the concept to the user,displaying associations associated with the ontology information to theuser, and receiving selections of concepts, ontology information,attributes, associations, or combinations thereof from the user todefine said relationships; and displaying said relationships betweenconceptual and relational information to said user.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the step of receiving structure information relating tometadata types from the user comprises receiving a selection of datapreviously entered or ingested into a non-transitory computer readablemedium in communication with the computer processor.
 3. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the step of receiving structure information relating tometadata types from the user comprises displaying a plurality of fieldsto the user, receiving information from the user for entry into at leastone of said fields, matching the information with data entered oringested into a non-transitory computer readable medium in communicationwith the computer processor, and populating at least one other of saidfields using data corresponding to the information.
 4. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the step of receiving context information to establishcontext for the correlation of conceptual and relational informationfrom said user comprises receiving a selection of an existing item ofcontext information from the user, displaying at least one correspondingsource or item of content to the user, and receiving a selection of saidat least one corresponding source or item of content from the user. 5.The method of claim 1, wherein the step of receiving ontologyinformation for the correlation of conceptual and relational informationfrom said user comprises receiving a selection of an existing item ofontology information from the user, displaying at least one pre-existingassociation between the existing item of ontology information and atleast one item of context information, and receiving a selection of saidat least one pre-existing association from the user.
 6. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the step of displaying said relationships betweenconceptual and relational information to said user comprises displayinga plurality of ontology information to the user, receiving a selectionof an ontology information from the user, displaying a plurality ofconcept types associated with the ontology information to the user,receiving a selection of a concept type from the user, displaying aplurality of concepts associated with the concept type to the user,receiving a selection of a concept from the user thereby defining areference concept, and displaying relationships, ontology information,concepts, or combinations thereof relative to the reference concept. 7.A tangible non-transitory computer readable medium encoded with acomputer-implemented program for the correlation of conceptual andrelational information, the program comprising the steps of:instructions for receiving structure information for relating tometadata types from a user, by receiving a type of metadata to managefrom the user, displaying at least one field corresponding to the typeof metadata to the user, and receiving information from the user forentry into said at least one field; instructions for receiving contextinformation to establish context for the correlation of conceptual andrelational information from said use, by receiving a selection of anexisting item of context information or a new item of contextinformation from the user, receiving a selection of an existing sourceor item of content or a new source or item of content associated withthe context information from the user, and an association between atleast one item of context information and at least one source or item ofcontent from the user; instructions for receiving ontology informationfor the correlation of conceptual and relational information from saiduser, by receiving a selection of an existing item of ontologyinformation or a new item of ontology information from the user and anassociation between at least one item of ontology information and atleast one item of context information; instructions for receivingconcept information for the correlation of conceptual and relationalinformation from said user, by receiving a selection of a concept typeand corresponding concept from the user, displaying a plurality ofattributes associable with the concept, an instructions for recordingrelationships between conceptual and relational information, byreceiving a selection of a concept from the user, receiving a selectionof an ontology information from the user, displaying attributesassociated with the concept to the user, displaying associationsassociated with the ontology information to the user, and receivingselections of concepts, ontology information, attributes, associations,or combinations thereof from the user to define said relationships; andinstructions for displaying said relationships between conceptual andrelational information to said user.
 8. The medium of claim 7, whereinthe instructions for receiving structure information further perform thestep of receiving a selection of data previously entered or ingestedinto a non-transitory computer readable medium in communication with thecomputer processor.
 9. The medium of claim 7, wherein the instructionsfor receiving structure information further perform the steps ofdisplaying a plurality of fields to the user, receiving information fromthe user for entry into at least one of said fields, matching theinformation with data entered or ingested into a non-transitory computerreadable medium in communication with the computer processor, andpopulating at least one other of said fields using data corresponding tothe information.
 10. The medium of claim 7, wherein the instructions forreceiving context information further perform the steps of receiving aselection of an existing item of context information from the user,displaying at least one corresponding source or item of content to theuser, and receiving a selection of said at least one correspondingsource or item of content from the user.
 11. The medium of claim 7,wherein the instructions for receiving ontology information furtherperform the steps of receiving a selection of an existing item ofontology information from the user, displaying at least one pre-existingassociation between the existing item of ontology information and atleast one item of context information, and receiving a selection of saidat least one pre-existing association from the user.
 12. The medium ofclaim 7, wherein the instructions for displaying said relationshipsbetween conceptual and relational information to said user furtherperform the steps of displaying a plurality of ontology information tothe user, receiving a selection of an ontology information from theuser, displaying a plurality of concept types associated with theontology information to the user, receiving a selection of a concepttype from the user, displaying a plurality of concepts associated withthe concept type to the user, receiving a selection of a concept fromthe user thereby defining a reference concept, and displayingrelationships, ontology information, concepts, or combinations thereofrelative to the reference concept.